Facts Vs. Feelings

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)   

By faith, not appearance; God never wants us to look at our feelings. Self may want us to; and Satan may want us to. But God wants us to face facts, not feelings; the facts of Christ and of His finished and perfect work for us.

When we face these precious facts, and believe them because God says they are facts, God will take care of our feelings.

God never gives feeling to enable us to trust Him; God never gives feeling to encourage us to trust Him; 

God never gives feeling to show that we have already and utterly trusted Him.

God gives feeling only when He sees that we trust Him apart from all feeling, resting on His own Word, and on His own faithfulness to His promise.

Never until then can the feeling (which is from God) possibly come; and God will give the feeling in such a measure and at such a time as His love sees best for the individual case.

We must choose between facing toward our feelings and facing toward God's facts.

Our feelings may be as uncertain as the sea or the shifting sands.

God's facts are as certain as the Rock of Ages, even Christ Himself, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

When darkness veils His lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.

The True Vine

John 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
 
The true vine is that which fulfills the one and only purpose of its existence.

So Jesus brings this illustration over to Himself and His Church, and it is perfectly clear what is the nature of the Lord Jesus.

He is reaching out to all men, embracing the whole world.

He asks ALL the nations into His heart. ALL men are His concern and not any one nation.

He said to His disciples: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS" (Matthew 28:19). It is the very nature of Jesus to do that. 

It is quite foreign to Him to be exclusive, small and narrow and self-occupied.... But it is all very well to think of this objectively.

It has to come down to every one of us. What is the proof that Christ is in you and in me?

How can it be known that Christ is in us?

Only in one way...that others are receiving Life through us, that we minister the Life of Christ to others, that when hungry and needy people come into touch with us they feel the touch of Life.

They may express it in different ways, but it amounts to this: 'That man, that woman, has something that I have not got and it is something that I need.

There is something about them that I feel, and it is what I really need.

That should be true of every Christian because Christ is in us, expanding Himself through us and ministering His Life through us.

Oh, do pray, dear friends, every day as you get up: 'Lord, make me a channel of Life to someone today.

Lord, minister Your own Life through me to someone today.

May I bring Life wherever I am. The Lord has no other purpose for you and for me.

We may try to do a lot of things, but if we belong to the Vine we are no good for anything but to bear fruit; and that is to bring Life to others.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Into The Deep

"Launch out into the deep" (Luke 5:4).

How deep He does not say. The depth into which we launch will depend upon how perfectly we have given up the shore, and the greatness of our need, and the apprehension of our possibilities. 

The fish were to be found in the deep, not in the shallow water.

So with us; our needs are to be met in the deep things of God. We are to launch out into the deep of God's Word, which the Spirit can open up to us in such crystal fathomless meaning that the same words we have accepted in times past will have an ocean meaning in them, which renders their first meaning to us very shallow.

Into the deep of the Atonement, until Christ's precious blood is so illuminated by the Spirit that it becomes an omnipotent balm, and food and medicine for the soul and body.

Into the deep of the Father's will, until we apprehend it in its infinite minuteness and goodness, and its far-sweeping provision and care for us.

Into the deep of the Holy Spirit, until He becomes a bright, dazzling, sweet, fathomless summer sea, in which we bathe and bask and breathe, and lose ourselves and our sorrows in the calmness and peace of His everlasting presence.

Into the deep of the Holy Spirit, until He becomes a bright, marvelous answer to prayer, the most careful and tender guidance, the most thoughtful anticipation of our needs, the most accurate and supernatural shaping of our events.

Into the deep of God's purposes and coming kingdom, until the Lord's coming; and beyond these the bright entrancing ages on ages unfold themselves, until the mental eye is dazed with light, and the heart flutters with inexpressible anticipations of its joy with Jesus and the glory to be revealed.

Into all these things, Jesus bids us launch. He made us and He made the deep, and to its fathomless depths He has fitted our longings and capabilities.

~Soul Food~

Its streams the whole creation reach, So plenteous is the store; Enough for all, enough for each; Enough forevermore.

The deep waters of the Holy Spirit are always accessible, because they are always proceeding. 

Will you not this day claim afresh to be immersed and drenched in these waters of life?

The waters in Ezekiel's vision first of all oozed from under the doors of the temple. 

Then the man with the measuring line measured and found the waters to the ankles.

Still further measurement, and they were waters to the knees. 

Once again they were measured and the waters were to the loins. 

Then they became waters to swim in--a river that could not be passed over. (Read Ezekiel 47). 

How far have we advanced into this river of life?

The Holy Spirit would have a complete self effacement. Not merely ankle-deep, knee-deep, loin-deep, but self-deep.

We ourselves hidden out of sight and bathed in this life-giving stream.

Let go the shore-lines and launch out into the deep. Never forget, the Man with the measuring line is with us today. 

~J.G.M~

SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT

John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  

THIS is spiritual discernment. We may test our growth in grace by our expertness in detecting the voice of our Lord.

It is the skill of the saint to catch “the still small voice” amid all the selfish clamours of the day, and amid the far more subtle callings of the heart. 

It needs a good ear to catch the voice of the Lord in our sorrows. 

I think it requires a better ear to discern the voice amid our joys! 

The twilight helps me to be serious; the noonday glare tends to make me heedless.

And they follow Me! Discernment is succeeded by obedience.

That is the one condition of becoming a saint—to follow the immediate call of the Lord. 

And it is the one condition of becoming an expert listener. 

Every time I hear the voice, and follow, I sharpen my sense of hearing, and the next time the voice will sound more clear.

And I give unto them eternal life. Yes, life is found in the ways of a listening obedience.

Every faculty and function will be vitalized when I follow the Lord of life and glory. “In Christ shall all be made alive.”

My Saviour, graciously give me the listening ear! Give me the obedient heart.

~John Henry Jowett~

What Shall GOD Bring To Pass?

Psa 37:5  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

What shall God bring to pass? The thing that lies deepest in the heart--"thy way." Does not thy way lie deepest in thy soul--the path that God has led, the path that God is now leading you by?

You may be troubled in your soul, doubting and fearing in your mind, distressed in your feelings; you may sink down to the lowest point that a child of God can sink to; yet that way, in which you are so deeply sunk, if the Lord enable you from time to time to commit it to him, and trust in him, he will bring to pass above what your heart desires.

Look at the movements of your heart God-ward; look at your embarrassments, temptations, and exercises; look at that which rolls backwards and forwards in your mind, that which is tossed to and fro on the waves of your anxious bosom,--what lies nearest, dearest, and deepest,--let honest conscience speak.

That, whatever it be, the Lord tells you, and sometimes enables you to commit, to trust to him. Now whatever it be so committed and so trusted, the Lord has declared in his unerring word of truth, he "will bring it to pass;" he will fulfil it when his time has arrived.

Does darkness envelope it? do mountains of difficulty stand up in the way of its fulfilment? Never mind; God will bring it to pass in the face of all, over mountains and through difficulties, in spite of, and in the midst of, all surrounding obstacles.

He "will bring it to pass,"--that which lies deepest in your heart, nearest your affections, and that which you are enabled in the actings of living faith sometimes to commit into the hands of the Lord God Almighty.

~J. C. Philpot~

Perfection Of Suffering

Psa 138:8  The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
 
There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. 

When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.

It is in this state of the perfection of suffering that the Holy Spirit works many marvelous things in our souls. 

In such a condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of God; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it stops asking God questions; it stops crying, "Why hast thou forsaken me ?"

The imagination stops building air castles, or running off on foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentle; the choices are annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of God. 

The affections are weaned from all creatures and all things; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way; for, let the circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for God and His will, and it feels assured that God is making everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present, work together for its good.

Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! of losing our own strength, and wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus

~Soul Food~

The great thing is to suffer without being discouraged.

The heart that serves, and loves, and clings, Hears everywhere the rush of angel wings.

Our Words And Deeds Are Irrevocable

Mat 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

We cannot recall any word we have spoken. It may be a false word or an unkind word...a word which will blast and burn! Instantly after it has been spoken we may wish it back and may rush after it and try to stop it.

It is just so with our acts. A moment after we have done a wicked thing, we may bitterly repent it. We may be willing to give all we have in the world to undo it, to make it as though it never had been. But in vain. A deed done takes its place in the universe as a fact and never can be recalled.

We should be sure before we speak a word or do an act that it is right, that we shall never desire to have it recalled...for when once we have opened our lips, or lifted our hand there will be no unsaying or undoing possible.

Our words and deeds are irrevocable. We cannot recall anything we have done, neither can we change it. But by other words and deeds, we may in some measure modify the effect of that which we cannot blot out. Paul could not undo his persecutions of Christians but by a life to devotion to Christ's cause he could in a sense make reparation for the terrible harm he had done.

Just so, we cannot undo the wrong things we have done but we should strive to set in motion other influences which may at least compensate in some sense for the harm they have wrought. We cannot unsay the sharp word which wounds our friend's heart but we can by kindness and loyal devotion  yet bring good and blessing to his life.

~J. R. Miller~

God's Threshing

John 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.  

The word tribulation is very suggestive. It comes from a root which means 'a flail'. 

The thresher uses the flail to beat the wheat sheaves, that he may separate the golden wheat from the chaff and straw.

Tribulation is God's threshing...not to destroy us, but to get what is good, heavenly, and spiritual in us~separated from what is wrong, earthly, and fleshly.

Nothing less than blows of pain will do this. 

The golden wheat of goodness in us, is so closely wrapped up in the strong chaff of sin...that only the heavy flail of suffering can produce the separation!

Many of us would never enter the gates of pearl...were it not for this unwelcome messenger, pain!

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

~J. R. Miller~

THE RESULTS OF FAILURE TO OBEY GOD'S WORD

 

Again and again in the Old Testament we find disaster as the result of a failure to keep the Word of God always before them.

Even Moses, who had sacrificed and suffered so much for those people, was at the last forbidden by the Lord to ask any more that he might go into the land. 

Why? Because the Lord had said something and Moses had not meticulously observed what He had said. 'Well,' you say, 'that is terrible! He is a hard God.' 

Ah! but you must remember that it was not just Moses - Moses has attained and obtained now, for he was with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration - but it was the people for ever afterwards who had to learn this lesson: you cannot violate anything that the Lord has said without forfeiting and losing something.
 
Then we remember David bringing the ark up to Jerusalem and making a new cart on which to carry it. But there was a disaster on the way. 

The whole thing, about which they seemed to be having such a good time and feeling that they were being prospered and blessed of the Lord, turned into that threshing-floor calamity. 

Uzzah died before the Lord, and David was angry with Him that day. 

He turned the ark aside and went and sulked, nursing his grievance with the Lord. But he got over that, and we do get over these things! 

We have those bad times with the Lord, but when we get over them He is able to show us the meaning of what He has done. 

David went back to the Word of the Lord and found the Lord's instructions about the carrying of the ark. 

He had not said: 'Thou shalt make a new cart'. That was not in the Word at all, indeed, it was another heathen idea.

Then David saw and said: 'Oh, it is written that the Levites shall carry the ark.' 

The tragedy of that day, with the all good intentions, was because the Word of God was overlooked and missed, but the Lord never overlooks His Word.
 
There may be many secret tragedies in our lives, many arrests in our spiritual progress, not because our motives were not good, but the best motives may just miss the particular thought of God, and He does not substitute a good motive for something that He has laid down as law.
 
This all sounds very terrible, but we must take it further, and this is where our hearts are really going to be touched.

The answer to these failures was not just a sort of legal, mechanical way of observing some statement in the Bible. The issue was very much bigger than that!

If you will look at every such instance in the Old Testament, the big and the small, you will see that it was always a matter of the Lord's presence. Do you remember Ai?

What had the Lord said about the principles of spiritual progress? You know what He had said! 

The people came to Ai, and you know what Achan did. He violated the Word of God, and the whole of Israel was arrested in their progress, brought to a standstill and there was a scene of tragedy. 

But what was the real tragedy? The manifest presence of the Lord had departed! 

Is not the manifest presence of the Lord everything? Oh, we do not want anything greater than that! 

Surely there is no heart here which is interested in anything in this life and all this world apart from the presence of the Lord! 

If only we know that the Lord is with us, what a lot of difference that makes! 

There may be a lot of victories, a lot of strength, yes, there may be conflicts, as there were with Joshua afterwards, there may be many problems and many difficulties in life, but if only we are assured that the Lord is with us, that is everything, is it not?

I tell you that is my battleground all the way along. The devil is so cruel, using the very discipline of God meant to bring us into His greater fullness, using those trials as accusations against God, and making us feel that because of this situation and circumstance, this trial, this difficulty, this thing that is so hard, the Lord is not with us.

Don't you listen to that lie! You will be absolutely worsted, ruled out of all the conflict and the possession if you take on that lie of the devil.
 
The presence of the Lord is the battleground. What can we do without His presence? How can we get on without it?

What would our meetings be but for His presence? 

If only we are able to say after our prayer-meetings: 'The LORD was with us. He was there and we knew His presence.' That is life, and that is strength.
 
Now all that in the Bible, as you see, hung upon this Word of God. He is with us according to His Word, on the basis of His Word and He is only with us as His Word is in our hearts. 

So the Apostle says: "Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom" (Colossians 3:16), and that is the Presence of the Lord. 

He stood back at Ai and in the incident in David's life because of the defaulting over His Word. And it is always like that.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Joy For The Cast~Out

Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed Isaiah 66:5

Possibly this text may not apply to one in a thousand of the readers of this little book of promises; but the Lord cheers that one in such words as these. Let us pray for all such as are cast out wrongfully from the society which they love. May the Lord appear to their joy!

The text applies to truly gracious men who tremble at the word of the Lord. 

These were hated of their brethren, and at length cast out because of their fidelity and their holiness. This must have been very bitter to them; and all the more so because their casting out was done in the name of religion, and professedly with the view of glorifying God.

How much is done for the devil in the name of God! The use of the name of Jehovah to add venom to the bite of the old serpent is an instance of his subtlety.

The appearing of the Lord for them is the hope of His persecuted people.

He appears as the advocate and defender of His elect; and when He does so, it means a clear deliverance for the God-fearing and shame for their oppressors. 

O Lord, fulfill this word to those whom men are deriding!

~Charles Spurgeon~